Rojo "RED" ................................ Its here in the USA 
Rojo is a 1986 BJ73 FRP, which means mid wheel base land cruser with a removable fiberglass top. She has come to me from Spain thru the help of http://www.jdmlandcruisers.com/. I think from what I have seen you cant really find left hand drive 73/74s land cruisers any where else coming to the USA. Unfortuniatly they (LHD) are hard to come by no matter where you look.
For this one I was just in the right place at the right time and just dumb enough to put my money where my mouth was. I am not planning on anything as extreme as JT with his , but rather to keep it just like it is... Of course Rojo already has some tastefully done mods. The only added item I am thinking is a turbo once I have a chance to see how well Rojo performs with out one. I live close to sea level and would never really go higher then 6800 feet and so I think it might be good enough for what I want.
I used to own a 1979 BJ40 LHD and let that go several years go and have missed it ever since while building up a 100s. Something about the noise , something about the shake , something about the fumes... I am not sure really. but I started looking again but this time I wanted something that could take a turbo was a little more modern with power steering and AC. I really liked the 70s iconic front and came close to buying a BJ70 several times but no AC. Then I saw the BJ73 / 74. At first I was not even sure what it was until further reading. I was sure this was the land cruiser model I had to have.. of course finding one in the USA was going to be the issue.
So again the real story starts with a few phone calls to JDM land cruisers and talking with them about what I wanted and if they had anything coming in. very nice and really like land cruisers. This call was the who is in line for the next shipment of trucks if there is going to be another shipment. So after a few weeks go by I was offered the opportunity to buy Rojo direct from the owner in Spain who works with JDM looking for trucks. He had decided to sell / cash in and move on to a D90.
So lets get to the meat of the topic $$$$. I like the advice I read on this form , dont buy something that you cant see unless you can risk losing
your ass on it. So as a direct buy I would agree to cover all customs charges and shipping... I knew at the time that this money would most likely be not recoverable in the event I need to sell the truck if I ever decided to sell (so one day someone can thank me).. But shipping / driving charges most of the time are a part of buying a truck or car that is not near you. So for shipping from Spain ($1,300) and then paying customs import fees I am at 2k on just that. , then to have the truck shipped from port to my door another $750. This expense could have been reduced several hundred and I thought about picking it up myself but life would not afford me that adventure on the date it needed to be picked up. Again from my understanding there is a bit more formality in port shipment then just driving across the boarder.
leaving Spain...
Now I am not going to say how much I paid for the truck as it was a premium when compare to some others due to the fact it has existing modifications. But was inline with what others are paying for BJ73 / BJ74 right hand drive +premium + shipping and import fees.
Rojo's modifications are as follows.
newer iron man shocks
OME steering stabilizer
anti inversion shakes
OEM snorkel with pre filter
12k 24v winch - synthetic line
ARB roof rack
Iron man awning
ARB front bumper
aftermarket rear bumper
tube sliders
new BFG tires (5)
aftermarket black rims (5)
seats recovered
2 hella off road lights
High-lift jack and spare tire holder
fresh service via receipts
These were items that I wanted one day and I knew if I were to try and get them from the USA I would pay twice as much if I could even get them here. So all in all I don't think I did that bad on the initial purchase.
So I am glad to be here on Mud and hope I can learn from the experts as I have with my 40s, 80s, 100s, and now 70s. All I need is to own a few more to make a sweep......
more to come...
Rojo is a 1986 BJ73 FRP, which means mid wheel base land cruser with a removable fiberglass top. She has come to me from Spain thru the help of http://www.jdmlandcruisers.com/. I think from what I have seen you cant really find left hand drive 73/74s land cruisers any where else coming to the USA. Unfortuniatly they (LHD) are hard to come by no matter where you look.
For this one I was just in the right place at the right time and just dumb enough to put my money where my mouth was. I am not planning on anything as extreme as JT with his , but rather to keep it just like it is... Of course Rojo already has some tastefully done mods. The only added item I am thinking is a turbo once I have a chance to see how well Rojo performs with out one. I live close to sea level and would never really go higher then 6800 feet and so I think it might be good enough for what I want.
I used to own a 1979 BJ40 LHD and let that go several years go and have missed it ever since while building up a 100s. Something about the noise , something about the shake , something about the fumes... I am not sure really. but I started looking again but this time I wanted something that could take a turbo was a little more modern with power steering and AC. I really liked the 70s iconic front and came close to buying a BJ70 several times but no AC. Then I saw the BJ73 / 74. At first I was not even sure what it was until further reading. I was sure this was the land cruiser model I had to have.. of course finding one in the USA was going to be the issue.
So again the real story starts with a few phone calls to JDM land cruisers and talking with them about what I wanted and if they had anything coming in. very nice and really like land cruisers. This call was the who is in line for the next shipment of trucks if there is going to be another shipment. So after a few weeks go by I was offered the opportunity to buy Rojo direct from the owner in Spain who works with JDM looking for trucks. He had decided to sell / cash in and move on to a D90.
So lets get to the meat of the topic $$$$. I like the advice I read on this form , dont buy something that you cant see unless you can risk losing
your ass on it. So as a direct buy I would agree to cover all customs charges and shipping... I knew at the time that this money would most likely be not recoverable in the event I need to sell the truck if I ever decided to sell (so one day someone can thank me).. But shipping / driving charges most of the time are a part of buying a truck or car that is not near you. So for shipping from Spain ($1,300) and then paying customs import fees I am at 2k on just that. , then to have the truck shipped from port to my door another $750. This expense could have been reduced several hundred and I thought about picking it up myself but life would not afford me that adventure on the date it needed to be picked up. Again from my understanding there is a bit more formality in port shipment then just driving across the boarder.
leaving Spain...
Now I am not going to say how much I paid for the truck as it was a premium when compare to some others due to the fact it has existing modifications. But was inline with what others are paying for BJ73 / BJ74 right hand drive +premium + shipping and import fees.
Rojo's modifications are as follows.
newer iron man shocks
OME steering stabilizer
anti inversion shakes
OEM snorkel with pre filter
12k 24v winch - synthetic line
ARB roof rack
Iron man awning
ARB front bumper
aftermarket rear bumper
tube sliders
new BFG tires (5)
aftermarket black rims (5)
seats recovered
2 hella off road lights
High-lift jack and spare tire holder
fresh service via receipts
These were items that I wanted one day and I knew if I were to try and get them from the USA I would pay twice as much if I could even get them here. So all in all I don't think I did that bad on the initial purchase.
So I am glad to be here on Mud and hope I can learn from the experts as I have with my 40s, 80s, 100s, and now 70s. All I need is to own a few more to make a sweep......
more to come...
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I was most likely going to replace it anyway.
